Story title in the works
by Breeva Malfoy
Summary: Panem is at war once more.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

All that was left of my grandfather remained in a cement brick yard where a garden once flourished.

It was cold to look at, the stone stained black from years of neglect. The only life that spawned there now was the crows that had taken this place as their own. Weeds crawled across the tarnished brick that at one time had been a wall of sparkling white roses, while knarled tree branches hung to low to the ground like sharpened daggers casting ugly shadows across a dead landscape.

Of course I have no memories of what once was. I only had pictures and the stories that accompanied them. My mother had made that her one duty in life. To give me memories oh what once was. From a young age, at least as far back as I can remember, I had heard the tales she spun so effortlessly. Words of a war that had ravaged the world that my grandfather had strived to lead, to protect, to ultimately aid in its ultimate time of need. Pictures of this man fell with these stories. A tall stoic person, white hair that curled under a jaw that was firm, unyeilding. His eyes were my mothers. Small, round and ice blue. Expressionless.

For the time that my grandfather lived in, he was dressed simple. A grey suit, white dress shirt and black tie. The only color was that of the red rose planted firmly on his lapel. My mother explained he was never without one. Every morning he would attend to his garden, carefully weeding out the troublesome roots that threatened his beautiful, perfected heaven of flowers. And every day, he would hand select the rose that would accompany him for that day.

My mother always sounded so lost in her words when she told me this particular story.

It wasnt until I was older that I understood the irony of them.

The war had left little for my family. My mother had escaped the day her father was murdered, leaving the Capitol for District Three where she deserted her last name, and quickly took another after meeting my father. She lived her life like the others who lived in District three, building what had been destroyed, working for the very first time in her life. But as where it would make some people humble, it only birthed animosity within her.

When I was sixteen years old, my mother had had enough of her life fiddling away with everything and anything electrical. She had come from a dynasty, and this dynasty had been taken from her.

She returned to the capitol. I returned with her.

That was when my political career began. It took years to mold me into what the people thought they needed. Years to gain trust, to gain status and to form bonds that would all begin with a handshake while cameras looked on. I grew under the watchful eye of the media, my face smeared across screens in every district, my words of unifying the districts and making for a better tommorow producing that trust and more importantly, votes.

Where I sat now, so beloved, so sought after, nobody could dispute my decisions for Panem.

" Henry..."

My focus slipped, shifting from my grandfathers dead garden, back toward where my mother sat. Her hands were folded neatly on the desk that seperated us, for a moment she almost looked relaxed. That was until I noticed the whites of her knuckles as they gripped one another.

" Have you even been listening to me at all?"

I shook my head absently, feeling my jaw strain under the presence of the woman who had been the only constant for the entirety of my life.

" You seen the broadcast this morning. It's done."

" And how are the districts reacting?" Her voice was unusually high pitched, shrill even.

I stiffened in the leather chair, feeling every nerve suddenly come alive under my skin.

" They want to fight."

" Statistically Henry!" Frustration. Another emotion my mother was no stranger to.

My hands searched for the papers my staff had issued to me earlier that day. Numbers and words blended together, and all because of the one District I knew she was eager to lay her eyes on.

My mother snatched the paper eagerly from my hands, and as I expected a smile I only seen when she had accomplished something great, lit her sharp features with a strange glow.

" And why am I not surprised." She shook her head, red curls bouncing against her shoulders as she revelled in her glee. " District 12 doesnt seem to understand why we are fighting this war."

I stayed silent, every once in a while letting my gaze drift lightly to the outside world.

" While everyone else is preparing to do battle for our country, they of course are the opposing force. Just as it was when your grandfather was in power. Resisting what was best, trying to upset the normalcy and greatness he had dedicated his life to!"

The story I was most familiar with came to life before my eyes.

An uprising followed by a form of punishment. A game that was played every year. A girl who had fallen hazardlessly into this game, won and became a rebel. While my grandfather urged his country to keep the peace, this girl turned the districts against him. My mother described her as a force that was only propelled to such heights of popularity due to fancy costumes, her bow and a hybrid bird she wore as a pin.

This force murdered my grandfather.

And after years of molding me into the same power that my grandfather once held, my mother was finally going to get her revenge for the loss she had suffered.

" Her daughter?" Her voice hitched with what I knew was untamed anger. " You made sure she was part of the draft."

" The war would be pointless without her if I didn't, isn't that right?"

Satisfaction quickly replaced that anger.

" This war is the redemption your grandfather deserves." She stood in her slender manner, smoothing her simple green dress with her hands that were trembling with excitement for what was to come. Standing before me, one of those perfectly manicured hands cupped my face and those expressionless eyes stared down at the force she had created.

My mother slowly smiled, while brushing my cheek." And the death of what Katinss and Peeta Mellark love most in this world, will finally be my redemption."

Tit for tat.

Eye for an eye.

Panem was going to bleed once more.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The broadcast had been expected.

War had been whispering through the Districts for far to long.

An opposing country, one that had been settled across the waters that surrounded Panem had suddenly became very aware of our existence.

Little was known about this country and only the television and the news it produced, let us in on much more.

My father broke the black and white screen the day the draft was announced.

Before the machines ulitmate demise, both my brother and myself had been sitting in our living room. Outside the skies had opened up, and now was drowning the district with a harsh, cold rain that only the geese next door seemed to be enjoying.

I found myself eyeing them every now and again through the open bay window, my fingers tracing their colors across the paper I held in my lap.

Charlie of course, had more interest in harassing the cat, his boredom obviously reaching new heights as the day dragged on.

" She's going to turn on you one day, you know that?"

My brother shrugged while he made his best attempt at barking like a wild dog directly into Scout's flat face, who in turn scowled and skittered from the room.

I shook my head, returning to my own attempt at art. It wasn't. I was barely good at finger painting. My father was the artist, I was only trying to ward of my own boredom.

Charlie sighed, sitting back on his heels. " Where are mom and dad?"

" Not sure." The geese were flocking toward one another now, wings gracefully spanned out like they were going to take flight, full well knowing they would never leave their cushy life.

Another sigh. " Im bored. Let's go hunt."

I glanced at my brother. Disheveled blond hair hanging to low into a pair of sullen dark blue eyes glowered back at me.

" You know that answer."

" Come on Nova."

" No."

He huffed loudly and threw his thirteen year old frame dramatically to the floor.

I went to laugh, possibly give in to his request after such a display but the news I had been ignoring almost as well as I had been ignoring my brother, suddenly seemed to scream at me where I sat.

A face that all of the districts were very familiar with was suddenly on the screen. A young face, features that were dark and solemn stared back at what I could only assume were reporters and flashes of light as his picture was taken.

He was dressed down for a public appearence. A dress shirt without a tie. The sleeves of the shirt rolled up over taught looking arms. It was unusual to see such a political leader like this. Messy. Unkept.

But when he spoke, people listened. The man could have been wearing a paper bag and it wouldnt have mattered.

" Yesterday at 6 am I recieved word regarding the rebel force that has been hoping to infiltrate our country of Panem. For months now, I have been in treaty talks with their president and foreign leaders. We have been in debate over our natural resources. Water. Forestry. Above all the mines residing in district 12. All of these resources rightfully belong to Panem and all of the districts. Deals were brought forward. Trade agreements were turned down."

The man who really was not much older then myself seemed to stall over his next words, but as if he was a wind up doll, he picked up where he left off. I wondered if anyone else noticed his fingers and how they seemed to grip the podium he stood before.

" The treaty talks have ended as a result."

I could hear the cameras as they snapped, could hear the hush that ran through the crowd of people in the stadium where he spoke.

" War has been waged on Panem. And as a result of this, I have implemented the following on all districts. Curfews will be put in place for anyone under the age of eighteen years of age. District One will be supplying armed guards to protect each district while under any and all seige that could and may occur..."

Eyes that had no color lifted from the podium. He seemed to evoke silence from the crowd of onlookers, as well as the people he had grasped who sat in front of their screens at home.

" And I have set in place a mandatory draft. If Panem is to be protected from these forces, we are to fight them. I am asking the people of every district, to once more offer the eldest child over the age of eighteen to serve in this war. These indiviuals will report to district one in the coming week, for specified training."

Somewhere a roar flooded my eardrums.

" I can only try to understand the stress this will put on the families of every man and woman who will walk the path of a soldier."

My parents were with me now, but I couldnt see them through what was suddenly a very red haze.

" Sacrifices will be made. Death is inevitable. But we are fighting for our home. We are fighting for our future."

Henry Snow looked into my living room through a screen of black and white and spit in the faces of my father and mother.

" We are fighting, so our children never have to."

And our television set seized to exist.


End file.
